Broken Road
by Rusty Nail
Summary: An alternative look at Luka Kovac and John Carter's trip to the Congo. New friends are made as well as new enemies as the two doctors are plunged into an unfamiliar world where their already strained work relationship is put to the test.
1. Change is Constant

**Broken Road**

_**By Rusty Nail**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**This Fanfiction was inspired by the ER episode "Kisangani". Unfortunately I was unable to see most of the series and beyond what I gleaned from that episode I am unaware what happened at the start of the 9th Season of ER, regardingLuka Kovac and John Carter's experiences in the Congo especially. I have not read any other Congo based ER fics and as such have not been influenced by anything**_ _**but my own imaginings. **_

_**I do not own the characters of ER. I will not receive any profit from this story, it is merely for my own enjoyment, and hopefully the enjoyment of anyone who chooses to read along.**_

**_All Original Characters are my own creations. _**

**_-RN_**

* * *

_**Prologue**_

_The first thing that had struck him was the heat. Clichéd as it was, his first reaction was the feeling like he had been punched in the stomach. Sweat started the instant his feet hit the tarmac at the bottom of the stairs, the airplane at the top of them the last connection to home. Luka nudged him along from behind, saying something in his ear but Carter was not listening. He raised his hand above his eyes to make a visor against the sun and walked forwards towards the terminal._

_The sun was just beginning its descent through the bright blue sky of the afternoon. It was humid, sweltering in fact. Everyone was walking around the airport terminal with dark patches of sweat on their shirts, bumping into each other and either apologising or, more likely, not. Many had bottles of water clutched at their sides like a life line. It was this type of heat the **Alliance de Medecines International** warned their doctors against before they came to the Congo; the type that could be fatal if you didn't have a steady intake of water. Suddenly 'life line' seemed about accurate._

_This was it. He was here, away from Chicago and the people there that drove him steadily crazier every time he had to enter into a conversation with them. Wait, who was he kidding? He was away from the insanity of County and the narcissistic Abby Lockhart. He grimaced slightly. He had run away, maybe for the wrong reasons. Sure he wanted to help out, he had never really considered International Aid work before but once Kovac had put the idea in his head it seemed perfect._

_Just waking up to a blue sky and a different horizon would be great._

* * *

**Chapter One**

**Change is Constant**

The city of Kinshasa was one of acute contrasts in lifestyle and culture. Two Universities kept those who could afford to go well educated, high class residential areas, museums and TV and radio centres made life comfortable for a relatively small portion of the 7.5million residents. However, this was not the Kinshasa that the two American doctors had come to. Amidst the sprawling slums of lean-to's and corrugated huts of the poor they helped to organize and maintain a small, run down Primary Care Clinic that catered to the immediate area.

Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the street John Carter sat staring out into the street, feeling altogether wretched and seemingly unaware of the people criss-crossing through his line of sight,. He was drained, physically and emotionally. He sat with his head held between his hands, elbows propped up on his knees. He had been in the Congo for three weeks now. Twenty-one days practically to the hour and was nursing a head full of doubts.

At first it had been exciting, the new scenery, the people he had met in and around Kinshasa. The squalor and death that hung around like entities in the alleyways and street corners had opened his eyes and he had that feeling in his stomach, the sureness mixed with bitter guilt. He had even thought the permeating heat and the torrential rains a novel occurrence. Now, however, the whole thing seemed stagnated and old. The smell, the very texture of the place made him feel nauseous and out of touch.

This day in particular had taken its toll. A teenage girl, maybe fifteen, probably younger, had been brought into the PCC in with Malaria. Renal failure was unpreventable and she died within a few hours of bring brought in by her mother, there was not even time to turf her to the Hospital; she would have died before even getting through the doors. Carter has asked the mother, through a translator, why she had waited so long. The woman merely replied that she was sorry, so sorry, as she clutched at her daughter with rough, dry hands; her dirty face tear streaked. Carter had nothing more he could say, nothing that would expression how he felt. The body was wrapped and moved like a piece of meat, no reverent silence for the dead in this place, no pausing for thought.

He felt the bench he was sitting on give a sigh as the weight of another person was added to it. He didn't look up; he ran his hands through his hair and set them on the back of his neck, looking down at the dirt with anger. He didn't want to talk, or listen, or move. John just wanted to sit and let time pass him by.

A water bottle appeared in his line of sight, it was being held out to him by a steady hand. Carter straightened up slowly and took it. Luka was sitting beside him. A silence dragged out as they both took long draughts from their respective bottles, not making eye contact.

"You want to tell me what happened this morning?" Luka asked leaning back slightly and resting the water bottle on one knee, his fingers wrapped round it carelessly.

Carter sat motionless, staring at the dirt again, turning the bottle slowly between his hands. No, he didn't want to tell Luka what had happened, he didn't want to think about it. He got the feeling his companion was now waiting for him to respond. He shrugged lightly, sipping the water again. The relationship between him and Luka had been strained at best, mostly they saw little of each other until the evenings and even then they barely spoke. Carter was jealous of his easy French and bedside manner.

"Gillian said you ran out of the clinic like the roof was on fire." Luka continued to nudge, though the pair remained staring into the distance. The tension between them raised a notch and Luka sighed openly, "John. I don't want to push but… this isn't like you… I know that we haven't-"

"Learned to share the sandbox?" Carter interjected, his eyes remaining on the street as a sarcastic smile tugged his lips up at the corners.

"Carter-"

"What? I can't have a sense of humour anymore?"

Silence again. Luka felt his shoulders tense, he suddenly didn't know why he had bothered to come out here and talk to Carter; he obviously wasn't getting through to the guy. Part of him knew he couldn't blame him for the way he was acting, the hypocritical part of him wanted Carter to get over whatever it was and move on.

"I know how you're feeling John. It's always hard seeing what we see everyday-"

"Tell me something..." Carter said angrily, as if not hearing Luka's words, "Why is it that even though we are out here, helping people, spreading medicine and saving lives…why is it that I don't feel it?"

Luka was taken aback slightly. "Feel what?"

"Fulfilled." Carter's eyes finally turned to meet Luka's; they were dark and tinged with misery. Carter was getting more and more agitated. "I wanted to come here and do good and maybe, I don't know, change. Is it so bad to want to change?"

"No."

Silence. Kovac pressed his lips together and breathed out through his nose. After a minute or so he looked at Carter again and spoke.

"Change takes time; you have to let it happen. You can't force it, Carter." John snorted at that one, "I was trying to say, I know we haven't really… talked but the staff are starting to worry and…"

Carter rose from the bench and took a few steps forwards it seemed Luka's words were rolling off him, not getting through. Finally he turned on his heel and threw his arms out in exasperation,

"Well, I'm sorry. Ok?" for a moment Luka thought he would go on but the next sentence died in his throat. He couldn't go on. Fatigue washed over him and he shook his head, dropped his gaze. Luka watched cautiously.

"We better get back to work." Carter finally concluded as he started towards the hospital, "Just… forget I said anything."

"Carter, wait…"

There was no response, John gave an apathetic gesture over his shoulder and disappeared into the doorway of the Clinic.

Luka was left alone on the bench; he drained the contents of the bottle and gave a heavy sigh. He knew how Carter was feeling; he'd been there. After the war everything had been so bleak, his family gone, his life in tatters and it had taken him all this time to dig himself out of that hole. Now that he finally had it seemed to him that John had fallen into it in his place. In the whole months they had been in Kinshasa, Carter had seemed to go from bad to worse.

He rose from the bench too, stretching, his eyes tracing the horizon one more time before turning to follow Carter. He hoped that he could find a way to help John. He hoped that John would let him.

As it turned out the way to help him seemed to fall into Luka's lap. He sat on a stool in the relatively small exam area of the Clinic, scribbling a dosage of pain meds onto a clipboard while a small child sat staring at him, wide eyed. His mother was smoothing her hand over her son's head gently.

"This should help with the ankle pain. Make sure he keeps the bandage on." He told her in French, tearing off the prescription and handing it to her. She smiled gratefully and helped her son off the table, setting him down gently. He lent against her, his swollen foot just barely touching the ground.

"Oui. Thank you." She said. Kovac flashed a smile, said goodbye and moved on to fetch the next patient.

He moved through the suture room to toss his exam gloves and saw an attractive blonde woman talking to Kasim, a native male nurse who had been working in the PCC since before he and John had arrived. They laughed, clearly sharing an in joke, and Kovac couldn't help but smile as her face lit up, her eyes crinkling at the edges. She smoothed her hair back from her face and placed her hands on her hips, that was about the time she noticed Kovac standing behind her.

Before he could talk, she had moved towards him. It was evident she and Kasim had been catching up and that that involved his telling the woman about the western doctors he had been working with for the past three weeks.

"You must be Dr. Kovac." She stated, extending her hand to him immediately, as if he should have expected her arrival, "I'm Dr. Thomas."

She was English. Her accent was delicate, perfectly intonated. Kovac stripped the gloves from his hands and took hers; attempting not to be surprised by her strong grip, "Pleasure." He said, "What brings you down to the PCC Dr. Thomas?"

She laughed, that same deep, hearty laugh of a woman completely at ease with her surroundings that she had produced before, "Well, as a matter of fact I came to steal Kasim from you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I hope you can forgive me, but he is one of my very favourite nurses and-"

Kasim was laughing now too and came to the pair, swatting Thomas's shoulder good naturedly. "Docteur Audrey m'a demandé de l'aider à rétablir une clinique dans la région d'Couvette-Ouest." he turned to Kovac and spoke in French, using Thomas's first name rather than her lastas seemed the custom amongst many of the native nurses and the people.

Kovac looked at Thomas, then at Kasim, then back to Thomas, "Couvette-Ouest? Isn't that area-?"

"Teeming with diseases? Yes." Thomas cut in, knowing full well that was not what the tall Dr. Kovac was going to say. "We're going to a village called Dabana, on the banks of the Likouala River. They already have the Clinic building but no supplies or medical caregivers to speak of; the situation there has been pretty dire for years. I'm putting a team together to go out there and get the place set up, Kasim happens to be on the top of my hit list."

Kovac thought for about a half second before jumping in, "Could you use a pair of extra hands? Maybe two pairs?"

Audrey looked at Kovac, then Kasim who was grinning, a sure sign in her book that he was all for the idea of the Croation doctor and his friend coming along for the ride,

"Sure." She said, "We leave tomorrow morning though, since I already have most of our supplies. We're heading out at nine am. Do you want to talk to your colleague first? This isn't going to be a picnic you know."

Kovac shook his head, "No, no. We've been…looking to get out into the field.."

"Great. Kasim will show you where to meet us tomorrow?"

The male nurse nodded at the implied question, still smiling. Kovac found himself grinning like a Cheshire cat as Audrey Thomas gave her goodbye and disappeared off, back into the heat outside the clinic and coolly sliding her sunglasses into place. He picked up the material of his shirt at his chest between his thumb and forefinger and fanned it back and forth, this could be exactly what Carter needed, to get out into the field and get his hands dirty, really dirty.

Here in the city, despite the poverty that seemed to seep it's way through the slums without resistance, they didn't run out of supplies that often, the AMI made sure that they were well stocked with saline and antibiotics in all the colours of the rainbow, they had disposable syringes, a Hospital they could turf their most injured and immediate response from fellow Doctors nearby should they need it.

Out in Couvette-Ouest, however, they would have none of these things. They would have to rely on their own skills and intuition to treat patients, more so than ever before; rationing the saline, the drugs, cleaning the instruments every night, sterilising the work areas and sheets. Yes, Kovac thought. This was perfect. He had done it before, seen remote areas where medical care was non-existent until his arrival. In Bosnia he had been on what most called the front line of medicine. It was dangerous, it was morbidly exciting and, in his time, he had found it fulfilling.

Kasim was watching him, "You…tell Dr. Carter?"

"Yes. Yes I will." Kovac said, his smile only growing as he saw the man in question walk past with another patient in tow, "First, I have people to see." He said, donning a fresh pair of gloves from the box and jumping straight back into the thick of it.

Kasim shook his head and laughed, apparently extremely amused by Kovac's enthusiasm.

* * *

The day dragged ahead and Kovac barely had the chance to sit down let alone tell Carter the news. He prescribed more drugs, cleaned cuts and scrapes, sutured a few head lacs here and there but, as usual, nothing major came their way. Still they were busy; a PCC could see at least a hundred patients in a day, dysentery was rife in the poorest of the population, not to mention the scores of children with whooping cough. In the scheme of things these diseases were minor here. They were treatable and most came in well before the need for Hospitalization. 

It was, therefore, the early evening by the time they had both finished with their last patients. Carter rubbed his face tiredly, swiping sweat from under his eyes, knowing that in a few moments it would be replaced with more sweat. The heat was suffocating and his T-shirt was completely drenched. He came upon Kovac in the small room at the back that had a couch and a stand alone fan at one side, the 'lounge' as it was called. He propped himself next to the door.

"Long day." Kovac said from his slumped position in the folds of the couch's lumpy stuffing.

"I've had longer."

"A doctor came by earlier. There's a village in the north, they're setting up a new Clinic, well," he paused, running his fingers through his mop of dark hair and looking seriously at Carter, "they're re-establishing medical aid out there. I offered to go along."

"You did what?" That had gotten Carter's attention; he shoved of the wall and stepped fully into the room, "When was this? Didn't feel the need to share?"

"Carter. Not just me, you too. Both of us." Kovac said, gesturing at the space between them with his hands and staring up at his colleague. There was that uncomfortable silence again. This time Carter looked sheepish, he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the floor nodding.

He cleared his throat, "Sorry, like you said. Long day."

"No problem." He paused for a few moments, leaning forwards in his seat. The damp from the material had left his entire back moist. "We're on the same side Carter. I promise, I'm not about to leave you out here just because…I thought a change of scenery would be good."

"Yeah. Yeah you're right." Carter crossed the room and picked up a bottle of water. With it, he gestured to Kovac, who nodded and caught the bottle in mid-air as Carter tossed it to him. Looking away from Luka, he cracked the seal on the cap of his own bottle in his fist. He drank from it then leant against the small table,

"Where is this place?" he asked.

"Dabana. It's in the north, the Couvette-Ouest Region which is… fairly unstable from what I hear. I don't know that much about the situation up there but I suspect Dr. Thomas does." Carter looked quizzical, "The doctor who came by today. Kasim in coming along, he was the reason Thomas was here, looking to recruit him and I asked if we could tag along."

Carter nodded vaguely, evidentially thinking on how to phrase his next question without coming across as too intrusive, "You've done this sort of thing here before, right?"

"Travelled out of the cities and into the wild?" Kovac laughed without humour, "When I was working in Bosnia, I saw some pretty remote regions, the things you see out there… they're much worse than anything here in the towns."

"Is that why we've been in this PCC so long?"

"What?"

There he went again, putting his foot in his mouth around Luka and managing to say the wrong thing. Somehow he had managed to become blunt and to the point when around the man, he couldn't hide his feelings that well.

"I mean, I was _expecting_ to be out there, you know? In amongst the masses, or something like that." It was Carter's turn to laugh though there was nothing hearty about it, "It's not that I don't… treating people here is easy. You treat and street and it's gone in an instant and they just keep coming through those doors, just like County. I'm not making much sense here."

"No. I understand. Most people have their own ideas of what they will find out here, beds lined with amputees, AIDS and malaria around every corner. They'd be partially right, but that's not just the villages. That's here too. The cities need as much attention in some places. Kinshasa's working at it."

Not the answer Carter was really expecting. He drank his water silently, Kovac merely looked at his bottle as the silence they had become familiar, but by no means comfortable, with descended between them once more.

"It was selfish of me to keep you here. I didn't want to be back in the field so soon…"

"Gillian didn't want you to go either."

Kovac grinned sheepishly, Carter laughed, "Yeah, I noticed the two of you holding hands like school kids. She's nice."

"Yes. She is."

They smiled, both feeling that a small chip in the ice had been made, though neither elaborated on the subject of Gillian. They finished their water, tossed the bottles into the recycling tub and exited the PCC to make their way back to their accommodation to pack and get some much needed sleep, before the hours of driving they expected the next day.

* * *


	2. Into the Wild

_**Broken Road  
**__by Rusty Nail_

**Chapter Two  
****Into the Wild**

It was eight thirty the next morning when Kasim came by their building to pick them up. They had been living in something similar to a commune. About twelve doctors of various nationalities slept in the same building, worked in various PCC's across Kinshasa and traded war stories of the doctor variety in the evenings over a meal.

Carter and Kovac stood outside waiting for Kasim in silence. Kovac had said goodbye to Gillian. Carter averted his eyes as he cradled her head to his chest and they spoke together in French, they were so easy with each other and the jealousy that crept into his chest was best kept at bay by ignoring them. Kovac later told him that Gillian was worried for both of them, he knew why, the area they would be working in was very dangerous, and though he didn't know the specifics he knew that they would have to be careful and do as they were told. Carter had heard that sentence from his colleague at least five times already that morning.

Kasim drove up in a white land rover and hopped out. With a pearly white grin he helped them lift their bags of clothes in the back and then ushered them into their seats,

"Dr. Audrey is waiting already." He said, his English disjointed but clear enough to understand, he was used to talking in English around Carter who didn't speak French.

"She said nine am…" Kovac started.

"There has been some of the complications." Kasim laughed, that was starting to annoy Carter already, despite his excitement for the trip. Was Kasim ever anything less than chipper?

"What kind of complications?" he piped up.

"Nothing to be worried with. Dr. Audrey will make it all good."

Carter and Kovac exchanged concerned looks as Kasim proceeded to drive on through the busy streets, singing something in what they could only assume was Swahili. He, at least, seemed completely confident in Dr. Thomas's abilities and was even unaffected by the heat, his mood consistently upbeat and energetic.

By the time they had reached the meeting point it was 9:17 am and Carter had completely sweated his way through his shirt which was undone two buttons and rolled up at the sleeves. He slipped his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and swung his legs out of the land rover and walked around the back, popping the headphones of his iPod out of his ears as he went.

Kasim had pulled the bags out and Carter picked his up, joining Kovac who was staring past the Land Rover, shielding his eyes against the sunlight. Carter followed his line of sight to two women arguing vehemently. The younger of the two was making wild, angry gestures with her hands while the older had her hands on her hips and her head bowed, she shook it slowly at first and then rapidly, looking up. The words were drowned out by the sound of the street; Kasim was still singing and apparently oblivious to the argument as he started to load up the vehicle they had just arrived in with more gas.

"One of those two is Dr. Thomas?" Carter asked Kovac, watching with an apprehensive expression.

"Yep."

"The younger one I hope…"

"Yes Carter, the younger one." Luka laughed.

Carter released a 'phew' of relief as the elder woman, imposing in stature and severe in expression, threw some sort of parting comment to Dr. Thomas and stormed off into the crowds. Thomas turned sharply her eyes wide with what Carter could only assume was shock and anger at whatever those parting words had been. However she evidentially spotted Luka and turned on her smile like a light bulb.

Her features were instantly transformed, her grey eyes alive and excited. Carter found himself staring at her honey blonde hair, blinking slightly as he thought how soft and natural it looked no highlighted streaks or sculpted bangs. She crossed to them at a jog and he diverted his gaze, pushing his sunglasses up his nose.

"Morning boys." She said brightly, looking between them then at her watch,

"Sorry we're late. Kasim said you wanted to leave earlier…"

"No, no. Not a problem." She said, "I just wanted to get away before, oh, Kasim? Est-ce que pourriez-vous s'il vou plais mettre le refroidisseur dans le dos du durez Rover? Merci."

"This is Dr. John Carter." Kovac said after Audrey's attention was brought back from Kasim's moving of the cooler from the first to the second vehicle as she had asked. Carter removed his sunglasses and she smiled cheerily then shook his hand.

"Carter's fine." He corrected, then gestured in the direction the other woman had disappeared, "What was all that about?"

Audrey's demeanour changed almost instantly, her expression turned blank.

"That," she said, "was my mother."

Carter and Kovac looked at each other as Audrey moved away but they exchanged no more words. Audrey told Kasim and another native man who had joined the party to take the first van and that she would take Carter and Kovac in the second, all agreed and piled into the vehicles, loaded with water bottles and protein bars. Audrey started the motor without a word to her new colleagues and followed the first Land Rover down the street and out of Kinshasa.

* * *

Carter had fallen asleep in the back and Audrey had been fairly tight lipped, small talk about the weather and the PCC they had been working in lasted all of twenty minutes and five of those were uncomfortable. She avoided the pot holes as best she could, Luka was grateful for his stomach and for the fact that she seemed to be keeping in Carter's napping in mind. However, as well as she had been doing, Carter did wake up when one of their tyres got jammed in a rut and very nearly stopped their progress completely. Audrey was having none of that and after a little creative gear shifting and engine revving they were off again, catching up to the first Land Rover.

She looked over her shoulder, "Welcome back." She said to a yawning Carter.

"How long was I-"

"About three hours." Luka interjected, also looking over his shoulder. Carter nodded and shifted himself up a little in the seat, having slipped down with a folded shirt as his pillow. He looked between Audrey and Luka's heads and propped himself forwards to set himself in-between them a little more, they seem to be holding a fairly stoic silence.

"So what about Dabana? Anything we should know?"

Audrey glanced at him, "Glad you asked, I don't usually take team members on without giving them a full briefing on what to expect, but this whole event is touch and go." She looked forwards, speaking loudly now so that they could still hear her, "Dabana is a few hours east of Etoumbi; along the Likouala River. Etoumbi has had four recent outbreaks of Ebola virus. Last year; one hundred and twenty people were killed in an epidemic…" She noted the horrified expressions on the men's faces,

"Don't worry, Dabana hasn't seen a case in the past three years, and Etoumbi is under an unofficial quarantine which we expect them to finalize over the next few months. The rumour was that at first it looked like Typhoid Fever, the medical teams were dispatched from Kinshasa to Dabana, to distribute antibiotics, ampicillin, chloramphenicol…" Carter and Luka were nodding along,

"The trouble was by the time they got out there, it was pretty clear that they weren't dealing with Typhoid, the people had fevers pushing 101˚F, internal and external bleeding, you get the picture. Anyway, barrier nursing went into affect at the same time there was a new outbreak in Etoumbi, only they got all the news coverage because it was their second outbreak. The medical team members managed to persuade the people that they were getting sick and dying because of the meat they were eating from the forest. Dabana took it on board, Etoumbi didn't.

"So, in short, we got the all clear, no new cases in Dabana in the past three years, we can get back in there and help them rebuild the place. Whole generations were wiped out and they've been alone all this time, no healthcare, high infant mortality rate, we're going to change all that."

Her mood seemed much improved; all thoughts of the argument with her mother gone from her mind. She took her eyes off the road momentarily to look at the men once more. They still looked utterly petrified by the prospect, Carter was wearing a, 'how the hell did I get involved with this?' expression and Luka was silent and pale, his lips pressed together.

"Hey, I know it sounds bad but we wouldn't be cleared to get in there if there was a possibility that there are still infectious agents present. The people were educated by the medical teams; they know not to eat the meat off carcasses they find in the forest, how to prepare any meat that the do gather in a safe way. It'll be fine."

She smiled encouragingly at them, Luka nodded, "Is it, ah, just going to be us and Kasim?"

"No," Audrey replied, "Dr. Nichols is already out there with Lewa, another nurse. They went out a few days ago to start sterilizing the place down; as soon as we got the green light to re-establish medical care they took off. We didn't want to flood the area with foreigners instantly either, it helps to ease the community back into our presence. I spent the past two days organizing our supplies anyway, so it all worked out."

The hours slid by with only two breaks for the drivers to stretch their legs, Audrey was eager to get to Dabana, that much was clear in the excitement in her voice as she described to Luka and Carter her plans for the Clinic. The latter decided he could listen to her talk all day, her accent was smooth and mellow and her diction perfect and he smiled to himself slightly as the sun's lower lip touched the horizon. Her enthusiasm was completely contagious and he found himself thinking less and less about why he had come to the Congo in the first place and more about what he could accomplish.

They turned into an average sized town as the light began to fade from the sky. They slowly drove through the town and people stopped what they were doing, mainly standing around the streets smoking, some children were being carted home by their mothers but even they turned to watch the stark white vans roll by. Audrey explained that the Red Cross was already set up in this town and they were staying the night before leaving again at dawn, that way they would reach Dabana about the same time the next day, if they made good progress.

They were met by Gregory Allen, who introduced himself to Carter and Kovac as an American Red Cross worker but seemed to know Audrey pretty well already. He was young, maybe in his mid to late twenties and everything ended in a questioning tone with him. He took them through what he called the 'Hub' of the Red Cross activity which looked a little like a call centre without phones. Boxes of medicine, blankets, food, water purifiers. Luke was confused; it looked more like emergency aid response gear.

When he asked Greg replied nonchalantly, "We get a lot of displaced people here Dr Kovac. They filter in everyday and we have to feed and house them, immunize most, and even clothe some. We make sure we have enough supplies to keep up, you know?"

"Displaced?" Carter ventured. They were walking up a flight of stairs now, Greg and Carter up front, Kovac a step behind with Audrey in tow, speaking in French again to Kasim who hurried off to check their trucks and make sure to secure the supplies.

"Refugees from the north, yeah?"

"There's a lot of rebel activity in Couvette-Ouest, Carter." Kovac said.

Audrey hopped up a couple of steps and joined back into the conversation, "They're not interested in Dabana and Etoumbi. They have both been classed as_ Maladie de sang_, Blood-Sickness. Even they know that Ebola is something you don't want to tempt fate with."

Greg showed Carter and Kovac a room with two cots in it, explaining that they were basically the last port of call to medical teams travelling into the Northern areas of the country. The Red Cross was more than happy to house doctors and aid workers from other agencies for a night since travelling at night was "a death wish on wheels". Carter commented that he wished surgical and medical back home could be as helpful to each other.

Audrey walked straight into the room next door with a quick goodnight to the men, telling them that she would be hoping to leave at 5am the next day. Carter kept his reaction to that piece of news to himself until he and Kovac were alone in their room. He tossed his wash bag onto the left cot and stretched.

"Five AM?"

Luke nodded with a smile as he delved through his own small bag of soap and toiletries for his toothbrush. "If we leave much later I guess we'll be arriving in Dabana in the dark. Not a good first impression on the locals."

"We couldn't just take a plane?" Carter slipped his hands into his pockets and paced across the room, looking around. They had electricity which was nice, the beds looked clean and freshly made, mosquito nets hung around them in gentle folds, shifted by a light and welcomed breeze through the window which was opened a crack. He stepped over to it and stared out into the darkness, nothing stood out, the occasional lamp light here and there, but since they had arrived the final rays of the sun had weakly withdrawn from the horizon.

Kovac had disappeared into their mini bathroom, the door of which stopped a few inches before the floor. Carter could see his feet, he shook his head and returned to his bed, taking his own toothbrush out and waiting his turn.

Both cleaned and refreshed, Carter and Kovac settled into their respective cots and drew the netting around them. Carter seemed to have trouble with it and rolled his eyes with a sigh as Kovac managed with an expert flick of his wrist and turned onto his side to sleep.

Five o'clock came around quickly.

In the light of the morning he could see the room a bit better, plain walls, plastered and white washed, bare wooden floors, not the type you wanted to be walking barefoot on either. The sun filtered into the room through the shutters on the window and the heat came with it. Luka's coal black hair was dark with sweat and matted to his forehead. Having navigated his way out of the netting around the bed he slapped the travel alarm clock off and gave Carter a gentle nudge. He was asleep on his back and snoring and he didn't wake.

"Carter..?" Luka prodded.

Nothing.

"Carter!" He shouted.

"Wha- huh? Ugh, what time is it."

"Four thirty. If you want a shower you should get up..." Carter nodded vaguely, rubbing his eyes and Luka turned around, taking a towel from the chair by the door. He knew he was going to appreciate hot running water in a few days and savoured the shower for a full five minutes before emerging again, dressed and rubbing his hair with the towel.

Carter had moved around the room, opened the shutters, pushed the netting back from around his bed and made it already. He grinned and Luka was glad to see that, despite the early start he seemed enthused.

At four fifty they were downstairs, packed up and ready, they met Audrey in the hallway, she had a cup of coffee in one hand.

"You know how long you're planning on staying in Dabana?" Greg was asking.

"After the initial set up? Who knows. The Adem are moving around there a lot from what I hear, though I don't think they will interested in Dabana, it's not really of any tactical advantage to them, especially with their suspicions over the Ebola in that region."

"Morning." Luka said as he approached with a cleaned up Carter in tow.

"Excellent timing." Audrey proclaimed, "The trucks are all ready and waiting, there's breakfast and coffee in the kitchen." She shook her cup with a grin then returned to her conversation with Greg.

Carter and Kovac agreed and made their way to the canteen. It was much like the one in the accommodation they had had in Kinshasa. Long tables with eight or nine seats spanned the width of the room and a few doctors and aid workers lined up chatting with plates in their hands. Scrambled eggs, toast and some sort of native meat that looked and smelled a lot like bacon but tasted nothing like it were on offer.

They sat down at a table and ate, cups of strong coffee next to their plates.

"You know," Luka started, "I didn't see a ring."

Carter looked up, "Huh?"

"On Audrey's hand. No ring."

Carter grimaced, looking down at his plate. "Ahh. I hadn't noticed."

Luka chuckled and sipped his coffee, looking up at John who had a distinct pink tinge in his cheeks. He was eating silently now; his mind clearly somewhere else and Luka noticed that after a moment the boyish look in his eyes was replaced with something else, something darker. He didn't push, he had an inkling as to what that shadow in Carter's eyes was caused by and he didn't want to strain their already tenuous working relationship, not when they seemed to be making slow progress.

At Five am precisely Audrey appeared at the doorway and waved at Luka who raised a hand in response. The canteen itself was empty by now, the few people that had been there had moved off in groups to get to work nice and early, before the direct heat of the sun was too much to bear.

They cleared out and before long were crammed back into the Land Rover, Audrey behind the wheel again and this time Kovac sat in the back. The day of driving stretched ahead and Carter decided to get comfortable as the terrain got increasingly rugged and the road diminished to a track.

* * *


	3. Welcome to Dabana

**Broken Road**  
_by Rusty Nail_

**Chapter Three  
****Welcome to Dabana**

The Land Rovers were painted white for more than one reason, white was neutral, the universal colour of pacifism, the UN used it, the Aid agencies too. It sent a clear message that they were not militia or government. Not that that had a lot of bearing in some regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The other reason that came to Luka's mind was heat. White was supposed to reflect heat but with the engine and the bodies in the cab, even if some of the sun's intensity was being deflected it was making very little difference, especially when the atmosphere seemed super heated, direct sunlight or not the vehicle was like an oven. Once more he drank from a bottle of water and went on to fan himself with a folded wad of paper which had once been an itinerary. He swatted a fly against his neck and flicked the flattened carcass out of the window.

Carter and Audrey were talking up front. She was laughing at something he had said and Luka hid a smirk, hadn't noticed there was no ring? Yeah right. He shifted in his seat after a minute and sat up a little straighter as their chatter continued. The view from the window was beautiful. They had moved into a jungle area and were making slow but steady progress, trees stretched up into the sky as if trying to out do each other in height; vying for the sunlight they denied the undergrowth below them.

They had had a respite before moving into this jungle region. Audrey and their as yet nameless guide, who was still riding in the first Rover with Kasim, had warned them that they were moving into the areas held by the militia. The former had explained that she would be happy to discuss the politics of the area with them once they got to Dabana and into the safety of the Clinic.

As the laugher from the front seats died away the tension settled again.

They could not help a swift scan of the underbrush occasionally, though warned not to stare. Someone was usually staring back in places like this. Luka felt a knot in his stomach and sighed heavily in a bid to relieve it somewhat. It didn't work. He swiped his hand down over his eyes and mouth and lent back again, his skin and shirt instantly sticking together and the seat back in turn.

Carter broke the silence, though his voice was a few decibels lower than usual, "Why are we driving so slowly if this area's so dangerous?" he asked.

"The chances we are being watched are pretty high." Audrey replied, just as softly, "The fact that we're reinstating the Clinic in Dabana will have gotten around the region by now, and to demonstrate that we're not going to interfere with their little skirmish, we're allowing them to get a good look at our vehicles, supplies and faces as we roll in. As long as we don't tick them off, the balance stays just that. Balanced."

Carter nodded; she didn't seem ready to elaborate on that further and once more the silence, accented with the slap of hand on skin to prevent a horse fly from taking what felt like a chunk of out of their flesh filled the vehicle. Audrey issued DEET to everyone, by her estimations, "one of the most powerful bug sprays in existence", it was used mainly to deter Malaria carrying Mosquitoes, she informed them, and was surprised they had not heard of it. Luka was fairly certain he was going to use the entire canister by the time that had gotten to the village.

Just as cramp was starting to aggravate them all they pulled into an expansive clearing. The trees faded and shrank into tall bushes and then shrubs and finally long grass. The mud was the darkest colour of earth Carter could remember ever seeing. They drove through the scattered housing; small buildings amongst the scrubby grass, men were sitting in groups, smoking pipes and talking while woman wandered to and fro in the late afternoon light. They smiled when Carter caught their eyes, the children waved as they chased the vans. Everyone seemed so happy; he couldn't think why Audrey had been so vehement about their need for a medical presence, she'd made it sound like the people here were all about to drop dead at any given moment.

The Clinic came into sight at the very end of the 'road' that ran through the centre of the village. Evidentially it had once been a white washed building, but the paint was almost completely chipped off and mud splattered around the walls where the torrential afternoon rains had kicked the dirt up. Two steps led up to a small porch that ran across the front of the building and benches lined the railings.

The first Rover pulled up in front of it and Audrey parked in behind it, killing the engine. She looked in the mirror of the sun visor for a split second, sweeping a curtain of blonde hair from her face before she yanked the door handle and slid out onto the soft earth. Carter and Kovac did the same, seeing as how Kasim and their guide were already being greeted at the front of the Clinic by a Congolese looking female nurse, presumably Lewa, and a tall dark haired man, Dr. Nichols.

They looked on in shock as Audrey basically ran and leapt into the man's arms. He wrapped them around her and cradled her head against his shoulder, his fingers smoothing through her hair as her feet left the floor and he turned her around. The stuff movie moments are made of. Their fierce embrace was broken; they said a few words, indistinguishable to anyone else and kissed.

Kasim laughed, possible now the most annoying sound to ever grate against Carter's ears. He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Kovac was smiling too, his sunglasses perched easily on his nose as he watched the scene unfold and Audrey wave them over.

"Better luck next time, Carter." He said. Carter shook his head with a smile, the initial jealousy and disappointment of discovering that Audrey Thomas was not single washed away by the atmosphere of the reunion and he laughed as they moved over to be introduced.

They learned Dr. Nichols went by Sean and was American too. He had been in Yengo for the past two weeks delivering AID vaccinations, while Audrey had been in Kinshasa arguing to get the go ahead for Dabana. It was evident the pair was very much inseparable and that they had missed each other painfully while working on unconnected projects.

"So naturally getting the chance to work on something like this with Audrey is… just great." She grinned up at him as he rested his arm around her shoulders. "But much as I would love to stand here and talk about how wonderful everything is," Sean continued, "I really think we ought to get these supplies unpacked."

"Yeah, you're right. The second Rover has to be back in Kinshasa by the end of the week," Audrey said.

They unloaded the medical supplies first IV stands, intubations kits, syringes and scalpels as well as more fresh sheets and pillow cases. All the things the PCC in Kinshasa had only nothing was disposable beyond the latex gloves. Then came the food, nothing that was really perishable, mainly rice and packets of soup and broth.

"You want the grand tour?" Sean asked as everything was stacked up on the front steps of the clinic.

"Sure." Carter agreed and he and Kovac fell into step with Sean as Audrey helped Kasim to fuel up the Land Rover that would be returning to Kinshasa.

Sean led them inside. The initial space was small and dark, a corridor led directly down the centre, and benches like the ones outside ran along the walls again. The floor was poorly tiled, the grout had basically to dust and Carter felt the brittle white tiles shift a little under his boots. There was a large chalk board against one of the walls, covered almost completely in childlike scribbles, Carter smiled benignly.

"The Clinic's not huge," Sean explained unnecessarily, leading them into the first box shaped room on the right. Like the corridor it was dusty and dirty looking. "This will be the exam room, we're missing a few of the beds but we should be able to get by." There were what looked like five exam areas in the room. Two still had beds, three still had sheets over them but they looked like they were teeming with diseases from where Carter was standing. He wrinkled his nose, wondering vaguely what the hell Sean and Lewa had been doing here for the past two days if the place still looked like this.

His question was answered when they crossed the corridor and entered what Sean explained as the surgical room. The tiles were clean and glossy, though missing in a few places and there were lamps dotted around, hanging from the walls. The sink was working, their guide demonstrated as such, and the entire room had been sterilised.

The same level of care had been taken in the ward that ran the length of the building, out into the corridor and down again. The beds here had been stripped of their sheets and the rust on them had been scrubbed back by the looks of it. There were no IV stands in sight; Carter guessed Sean and Audrey had been in contact as to what essentials the place would need since there was a stack of the stands waiting to be brought in.

"Are you staying in the village?" Kovac asked, turning a full circle in the room, his eyes landing back on Sean who shook his head.

"When the clinic was built, back in the early '90's it wasn't generally accepted for the Aid Workers to be living with the locals, not us here in any case. There's living space, just off the back on the Clinic."

The living space was just that. A building in exactly the same style of the Clinic itself, divided into a kitchen type area and several rooms that each had a set of two cots in. Unlike the Clinic, however, this place had clearly not been entered in years.

"The kids played in the Clinic while it was all shut down but they stayed out of here for some reason. Just as well, we've got exactly the right number of beds. Glad they didn't decide that it would be fun to steal one."

"How big was the first medical team?"

Sean stopped in thought, "The initial team was out here in the mid-nineties, it was a pretty radical thing to be setting up this far out but they did it. They had six. Three nurses, three doctors."

Luka made an impressed face, "That's a lot for such a small village."

"Oh, God. This village was huge compared to what it is now. AIDs was rife, it was one of the hot spots that needed the bucks to help it recover. I guess Audrey told you about Etoumbi-?"

"Oh yeah," Carter cut in with a wry smile "gave us the blow by blow."

Sean nodded, "Well, then you know that this place is still recovering. It's about a sixth of the size it was, maybe less. They've had a lot of failed pregnancies so the population stagnated. AMI is invested in helping out here however they can. The people are ready for it, the place is ready. Just needs a push."

"I think you're preaching to the choir." It was Audrey, standing in the doorway, "Shall we get settled?"

They unanimously decided to move all the equipment into the Clinic, locked it up and then got to work on their new home. Once the lamps had all been lit it was almost homely, Audrey and Kasim cooked rice and some sort of chicken soup concoction and they sat around the table to eat together. It creaked dangerously every time someone leant an arm against it, raising laughter from the rest of the team,

"If you collapse this table after our culinary efforts, Carter, I sweat to God you will be the first patient in the morning." Audrey joked, Luka snorted into his water glass.

"I'd have to wait until morning?"

"Unless you want to do the sutures yourself…"

Sean jabbed her in the ribs, producing an "Ow." of protest.

"She did take the Hippocratic oath right?" Carter asked, wide eyed. She flicked rice at him with a laugh, though it was drowned out completely by none other than Kasim.

The meal proceeded in the same way, good natured joking and laughter; the anticipation of the days ahead was practically tangible in the air.

"So." Luka started ominously, "You mentioned there's a balance around here? I know Couvette-Ouest is unstable but…"

Audrey nodded, leaning back in her chair, "Ah, yes. There are two factions out here; the Jabari and the PRF, People's Revolutionary Front or "Adem" as the locals call them. Neither really belongs to a side anymore, if they ever did. All they want is the land they think they are entitled to. The Jabari are easy to deal with. You don't step on their toes and they won't shoot you, they are happy to have the aid agencies out here, helping the community, and have set themselves up as… 'warriors for the people' or what have you.

"The Adem however, are a different story." She sighed heavily, Sean rested his hand on her knee lovingly, she smiled, "They are brutal, conceited and horrifically territorial. Adem loosely means, _Red-Earth_ and it's the sort of name they have more than lived up to. They believe in kill or kill some more. They 'own' several towns up towards Liouesso, in the North-West but they have a pretty hefty stronghold."

"But we're ok here right?" Carter asked.

"I can't lie to you. They don't like us. I mean white people, out here giving aid to the very people they would rather oppress. It rather annoys them actually. But they won't do anything about it. They are in a constant power struggle with the Jabari so their focus is away from us."

"Besides," Sean added, "They have nothing to gain by interfering with anything we're doing. It would only call the world's attention to their little catfight."

Carter and Kovac caught the significant look Audrey gave Sean, they both looked away, feeling embarrassed to be sitting there while the pair communicated non-verbally. After a moment Audrey rose from the table and rooted around for the cooler she had made sure Kasim had packed back in Kinshasa.

She pulled out four beers from its depths, Carter applauded lightly. They were warm and oddly that didn't matter all that much as she passed them out and smiled broadly. Everyone popped the caps off.

"Well. Now that we have all that out of the way, I would like to propose a toast." She stated, "As depressing and heart-breaking the things we see out here are, we always have to keep in mind that they are the _reason_ we are here and I think that is something deserving recognition. So, without getting too long-winded or sappy, here's to old friends," she toasted towards Kasim and Sean, "and new."

Carter and Kovac smiled and raised their bottles to that.

"Welcome to Dabana." Audrey finished.

* * *


	4. Pastures New

_**Broken Road**_  
_by Rusty Nail_

**Chapter Four  
****Pastures New**

The isolation of the village of Dabana didn't seem to bother any member of the team, not even Carter, as the days flew by. A routine was easily settled into with an early rise, breakfast and then the morning spent cleaning and sterilizing the clinic as well as it could be. After lunch on the third day Audrey announced that they were ready to see patients.

For some reason Carter expected them to be inundated with illness off the bat but they were not. People trickled in with mild illnesses here and there. Sean explained that they were still new to the people in the village; their presence was more of a curiosity than anything else.

"It'll pick up soon." He said simply.

He was right. By the fifth day they had a steady intake of patients. A few had severe dysentery and were set up in the ward but most were complaining of aches and pains. After a few lessons in how to ration the equipment Carter found that he didn't even think twice about it anymore.

In fact he and Luka had been approached by Audrey who told them that if they were interested in more of the same sort of work, a small 'Hospital' in Mbandza to the north was in need of new staff. She offered to put in a good word with AMI regarding their familiarity with the procedures and their dedication to Dabana. They accepted whole heartedly.

On the seventh day Carter stood in the scrubby, knee length grass behind the Clinic, staring out into the jungle. He and Luka were due to leave for Mbandza and he wanted a few minutes to take in the surroundings, to commit them to his memory before they left. There was a breeze to the back of his T-shirt which was a pleasant relief. He heard footsteps and turned to look over his shoulder. It was Luka,

"The Land Rover is ready to leave when we are." He said.

"Things still quiet?"

Luka nodded, taking a position next to Carter, "Pretty much. I decided I needed to get out for a minute when Sean and Audrey started sterilizing the equipment together. Three's a crowd after all..."

Carter laughed, "Well, they seem very happy." He said, accenting his point with a nod or two. Kovac laughed as well, slapping the back of his neck and crushing another black fly beneath his fingers.

"Sickening isn't it?"

"A little."

Luka paused for a moment. The air between them was always full of questions, over the past week they had worked together and actually managed to trade fairly civil words, the productivity of the clinic and the way Lewa, Kasim, Audrey and Sean made them feel welcome had had a huge effect on their relationship, but it didn't answer the questions. Luka continued to rub the back of his neck, casting furtive glances at Carter. It wasn't long before he noticed.

"Do I have something on me?" Carter asked, looking at his shoulders and dusting them off.

"Uh, no." Luka sighed, "I was just going to say that… that was how I thought of you and Abby."

Of all the reactions he was expecting, a punch to the face, a stream of swear words, the sight of Carter's back as he turned away and refused to answer, laughter was not one of them. Yet there John stood laughing, all be it rather resentfully.

"Sickening?" he asked, hands on his hips as he looked out into the underbrush once more, squinting against the rays of sunlight that fought their way through the trees.

"No. Happy."

Carter looked seriously at Luka, frowning deeply as if considering very carefully how to answer that question or weighing up how truthful he thought Luka was really being. It had been complicated for all of them, confusing and sorting out his own feelings remained a task he usually didn't bother with, especially when Abby was concerned. He ran a hand over his hair, back and forth,

"Happy was one thing I could never have been with Abby." He said, "Not in the long term…not that I realised that when we were together…"

The sound of an angry French voice shattered the moment. Luka and Carter exchanged glances before averting their eyes and moving through the fronds of yellow grass to the front of the Clinic. Audrey and the driver of their Land Rover were arguing, she was gesturing wildly and spouting French at top speed. After a moment they both seemed to realise Carter and Luka had arrived. Audrey broke into one of her smiles again.

"I guess it's time for us to go." Carter said, watching the driver light a cigarette then turning to Audrey and Sean who had stepped forwards.

"Well, the driver, Jord, says he is leaving in five minutes with or without you." Sean said, shaking Luka's hand and exchanging words with him.

Audrey hugged them both tightly, repeatedly telling them to be careful, to keep in touch and that she was going to miss them, "You've both been a huge help here. Thank you so much." She finished with.

The rain started just as they clambered into the Land Rover, Jord was muttering in French already. Audrey pulled Sean up the steps and onto the front porch of the Clinic and turned to wave as the white vehicle pulled away. The last image Carter and Luka took with them was of the pair of them waving from the steps, Sean had his arm around Audrey's shoulders and she leant her head against his chest, smiling the whole time.

"Sweetheart. They will be fine." Sean said, closing the cabinet and locking it. He took the key on its chain and put it around his neck. Audrey had a replica of the key around her own neck and she shrugged as she crossed the suture room with a stack of blank, rusted charts in her hands. She set them down.

"I'm just saying it's a long drive, I'm not worried."

Evening had descended a few hours ago and it was getting late in Dabana. Audrey had been thinking about Carter and Luka the whole day, in between treating patients and meeting the locals in an attempt to forge a friendship with them. It was going well. They were friendly and warm once Audrey started speaking to them, most managed French easily, some had smatterings of English as well.

They were due to radio in once they reached Mbandza which they should have reached at about 21:00. Audrey looked at her watch again. It was two hours past that time. She sighed openly.

Sean slipped his arms around her waist, "You said yourself that they are perfect for Mbandza. The rain probably held them up."

As if on cue Lewa came in and informed them Dr. Luka was on the radio, Audrey walked with her through the clinic and into the kitchen of their building where the radio lived.

"Luka? This is Audrey." She said, as Lewa bade her goodnight and disappeared into her room again.

"Hey. This is Carter. Luka's unloading the Land Rover."

"How was your journey?"

"Long." Carter replied, "Over nine hours. We hit trouble about three hours in, a bridge washed out and we had to go around. How is everything back at the ranch?"

Audrey smiled, "Great, nice to have some peace and quiet around here."

"Oh I'll bet." There was laughter in Carter's voice too, "I better get back, still have bags to grab from the Rover. I figured we should check in first though."

"All right. Don't work too hard." Audrey said, "Remember-"

"Keep in touch. Gotcha." They exchanged goodbyes and signed off.

Audrey stretched and pulled the hair elastic out of her blonde locks; they fell across her shoulders in an unkempt looking mass; hair care was bottom of the to-do list in the Congo. She had been working there on and off for three years now, maybe it was coming up on four, travelling here and there. Mainly she worked through Couvette-Ouest, Emergency Aid had always been her speciality, following straight after her mother in that respect.

As her thoughts turned to her Mother Audrey released a sigh. There was something she didn't even get into with Sean beyond the basic outline of the story. Mother and Father divorce. Mother remarries in Africa. Daughter idealizes Mother, and is disappointed when she finally meets the woman. The last argument she had had with her mother rang through her ears. Patricia didn't want her daughter taking newbies out into the field on something as important as Dabana, naturally

Audrey rubbed her eyes, pacing into the Clinic again. Sean was out front, leaning on the railing of the porch.

"They got to Mbandza. You were right, the rain washed out-Sean?" He was shaking and when he turned his face to her he looked pale in the moonlight.

"Audrey…"

"You threw up?"

He nodded to her and Audrey slipped her shoulders under his arm, helping him into the clinic and the exam rooms. He got onto one of the bed and the blonde doctor urged him to lie back, donning sterile gloves as she did so.

"You didn't tell me you were feeling sick..."

"Aud, it's nothing. I think I just ate something."

Audrey rolled her eyes, "Men. You know I have to check you out. The AMI are cautious enough about us being here. Your stomach is rigid." She said, pressing her gloved hands onto Sean's abdomen, "Have you been having cramps?"

"A few but I just-" he didn't get to finish his reply.

The sound of an engine roaring through the village was unmistakeable and Audrey felt instantly that something was wrong. She stripped her gloves from her hands and left the exam room. Before she got very far three men rushed in, carrying a forth. They were dressed in black and green army fatigues, the sleeves cut off, bandanas tied around their heads.

Audrey froze; her breath caught in her throat as one of the men broke off and turned to her, he had a green beret on his head, cocked to the side and he started talking in French, very fast and angrily. Audrey's lips moved but she made no sound, shock freezing her body in place as the two remaining men supported the wounded between them

"Vous êtes un docteur?" Green Beret growled at her. He was carrying a gun, the shoulder strap pulling his jacket taught and he was evidently in charge.

Sean appeared in the doorway behind her, "Audrey?"

"…Oui… oui je suis un docteur…" Audrey stammered, her arm was suddenly locked in a vice like grip and she was dragged forwards slightly so that she could see the wound in the injured man's chest. He had been shot in the abdomen; blood was already all over the floor though they had blatantly attempted to stem the bleeding with a rag. Sean moved forwards to protest; Audrey turned and looked over her shoulder,

"Sean, glove up and start normal saline and O Neg IV's wide open." She turned to Green Beret, "Dans ici. Suivez-moi." She said, gesturing to the suture room.

They carried the man in and set him on the table as per Audrey's instructions, he was writhing and gesturing to his chest with bloodied hands, Audrey moved to the bloodied rag, swatting his hands away repeatedly as Sean began attempting to start intravenous fluids. These men were part of the PRF; Audrey recognised the customary red strip of cloth tied around the guns that she now realised they were all carrying.

"Ten of morphine in." Sean announced.

Even as Audrey heard him disgust ran up her spine. They were wasting their medicine on a murderer and a thief. She moved the rag away from the wound and blood welled up across the men's belly instantly. With Sean's help they rolled him sideways.

"Oh Jesus." Audrey pressed the cloth back down, "The goddamn bullet's still in there. No exit wound."

Sean looked up and their eyes connected over the man. They were fighting a losing battle and they were both aware of it. The man was already sluggish and pale, loss of blood wassapping his strength and his consciousness would follow soon. Audrey turned around and crossed to the cabinet. She pulled out stainless steel tools and set them down next to the injured man. They needed to treat him, do what they could and get the Adem out of the clinic and out of Dabana as fast as possible, whether he lived or not.

"This man; he is our doctor." The man in the Green Beret said forcefully, and in French, as if the fact made a massive impact upon Audrey and Sean's effort.

Sean took the bandage and pulled it away. Audrey slapped her palm down on the wound. The man on the table gave a cry of pain which Audrey ignored stoically. She bent forwards; the light was poor and the bullet was jammed in against a rib. She picked up a pair of bullet forceps, the thin curved blades with toothed, grasping edges glinting in the dim light. She inserted them directly into the wound.

Their patient groaned groggily, the morphine was taking fast effect but the bullet was proving hard to get a grip on. Sean was swiping the blood away from the area as Audrey worked.

"His BP's dropping Aud…" he said, "Second blood bag's dry too…"

"I know… I know…" Audrey said desperately. Suddenly the bullet forceps got a grip around the bullet and Audrey yanked it out, followed by a fresh wave of blood. His heart stopped, Audrey intubated him, Sean started chest compressions, and the Adem watched them with blank expressions. It was pointless and they both knew it, the moment this man had been shot he had been as good as dead.

Audrey looked up at the man in the Green Beret, her eyes said it all. He was gone.

Sean stopped chest compressions and looked up. Silence engulfed the room for a fraction of a second before the man in the green beret gestured to the two fellow Adem, they moved forwards and grabbed Sean in a ferocious grip.

"What are you doing?" Audrey shouted, pushing away from the table with wide eyes.

She watched Sean struggle against their grip as they attempted to take him from the room, Audrey started forwards and a gun was levelled at her. All she could hear was the rush of blood against her eardrums as she realised just exactly what was happening. At the same moment it seemed that Sean did too, he re-doubled his efforts to break there hold on him and Audrey started pleading in French, gesturing with her arms, the leader shouted back at her, in turn motioning to the dead man on the table with his gun. The shouting grew in intensity until one of the men used the butt of his rifle to render Sean unconscious.

Audrey's legs felt numb as she rushed forwards, calling out to Sean. She didn't even see the punch coming, it connected with her jaw, sending her reeling backwards into the tray of tools she had used to remove the bullet and she fell to the floor, clutching her face as the world swam around her.

A voice called her name, somewhere from behind and Audrey blinked trying to get her eyes to see straight again. It was Kasim, he came in with Lewa and they tried to help Audrey to her feet, the men had already take Sean outside and she shoved the nurse's away desperately, feeling tears flowing down her cheeks and pulling herself up on her own.

She ran outside, pitching and tossing from side to side as the impact of her head on the ground continued to affect her vision. She grabbed the railing and leant forwards to see them unceremoniously dumping Sean into the back of their truck and heard the engine start.

It was as if she was in limbo, the truck started to drive away and she stood frozen, knowing there was nothing she could do. Lewa was crying, she could hear her sharp intakes of breath and muffled confused questions. Kasim's arm came around her shoulders but she still couldn't move, she stared until the Adem's truck disappeared into the darkness.

Taking Sean with it.


	5. Taken

_**Broken Road  
**by Rusty Nail_

**Chapter Five  
****Taken**

_He had been taken. The Adem had snatched him out of the clinic as a replacement for their dead medic. Sean's vision pitched and tossed as he started to come round. The metal plating of the truck he was lying on dug into his side. He could remember hearing Audrey shouting for them to stop; he hadn't been strong enough to fight them off. She was probably worried sick._

_He tried to sit up, it was still dark and he couldn't see anything beyond the small square of space the men had shoved him into. One of them noticed his movement and started yelling in French. Sean was too dazed to understand any of it, a moment later it didn't matter anyway; the butt of a rifle connected with his temple and the world went black again._

**48 Hours Later**

"I'm just saying that Gillian might expect you to call…" John was saying. Luka pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. He liked Gillian, she was intelligent and pretty and she was compassionate but as much as he knew he liked her as a person he didn't know how he felt about her in a more romantic sense. John's pushing wasn't helping either.

"I'm only going to say this one more time; I don't know where to call. It's not like I can just call her up on her cell. For all I know she isn't even in Kinshasa anymore, she was expecting to be moved to Kisangani…"

Carter shrugged and shook his head slightly, "Fine, forget I said anything"

There was a long silence; the Hospital in Mbandza, which really wasn't a Hospital at all, was quiet in the late evening. There was no wind, no rain, just heat and moisture in the air. They had a full ward bar two beds where they had discharged patients only minutes before, and were just settling down for what would hopefully be a peaceful evening in the waiting room before they went to get some sleep. Both cradled beer bottles and sat silently for at least ten minutes.

"I wonder how Sean and Audrey are doing." Carter mused aloud, taking a sip of warm beer from his bottle.

"I'm sure they're forging on..." Kovac smiled slightly, "If any two people can get a village back on its feet, it's those two." He let his head rock back against the wall, thinking back on the week they had spent there. He was tired from it, tired to his bones but it was a good kind of tired; a satisfied one. He hoped Carter felt it too.

"Audrey seemed sad to see us go."

"Hunh."

"I mean, I'm sure she and Sean are happy for some alone time..." John commented, noticeably raising his eyebrows at Sean's name.

Kovac snorted, "So that's what this is about? You're still sore that Audrey isn't free and clear for you to date."

"I wasn't sore to begin with," He paused and looked across at Luka who was squinting at him, with his head still resting back against the wall behind his chair, John nodded his head, "alright so I was a little sore."

Luka drank form his beer bottle, "Yeah. I thought as much."

"None of this explains why you won't call Gillian-"

"Carter-"

"-I mean you can find out where she's moved onto for her next post if nothing else," John continued on oblivious to Luka's attempt to interrupt him, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know?"

"Horse?"

"Gift ho- never mind, it's an expression. Don't take a good thing for granted."

Luka rolled his eyes and went back to his semi-conscious state with his eyes closed. Don't take a good thing for granted, John definitely had a point about that, he didn't think he was taking anything for granted with Gillian. He was doing the honourable thing, right? Not getting too involved with her until he knew the strength of his own feelings at least.

Don't take a good thing for granted, he thought solemnly.

_Things were going from bad to worse. They were bad to begin with so the getting worse thing was definitely a problem. Sean felt his belly again; it was rigid, just like Audrey had said as she had checked him out before the madness had stared. He'd thrown up since; he'd thrown up everything his captors tried make him eat. The PRF had taken offence at this and beaten him about for it. His face was welted and bruised; blood was smeared across his clothes and hands._

_He had dysentery. It was hardly a difficult diagnosis. He was getting steadily weaker and less orientated with the world around him, and his captors took that as an offence too._

_"I...need a doctor..." he croaked at them as the van moved slowly along the bumpy road._

_One of the Green Beret's leaned down to him, "You are the doctor." He said in slick French. Sean blinked dully up at him. He was so hot; sweat ran into his brown eyes as he tried to focus on his captor. If he didn't get medical treatment himself he'd die, as it was the dysentery was progressing at an alarming rate._

_"No." Sean insisted, "I need a doctor... I'm sick... you understand? Sick."_

_"You are the doctor."_

_"Please you don't-" the Green Beret threw water in his face and Sean coughed as it shot up his nose and into his sinuses, impairing his already erratic breathing._

_"Cessez de parler! Stop Talking!"_

_Sean knew better than to argue, but things were going from bad to worse and he also knew that all he needed was metronidazole to clear this thing up. If he didn't get it then he could go into sepsis; and once that happened his odds of survival plummeted severely._

John set his empty beer bottle down on the table next to him. He rubbed his face, scratching his fingers through his stubble lightly. He yawned and glanced at Luka directly opposite him. His colleague had fallen asleep in the warmth of the small waiting room combined with the alcohol; it was all very comfortable. He heaved himself out of his seat, the buzz of beer making his head swim a little bit. He crossed out of the room, narrowly dodging Luka's outstretched feet; he didn't want to wake the Croat up.

In comparison to the air within the Hospital the air outside carried a 'breeze' that brought welcome relief and started to clear John's head out a little bit. The past two days had been just as busy as the previous week in Dabana. The Hospital they were now part of doubled as a supply centre for the region, distributing aid when they had aid to give. John was musing on the problems they would have when the sound of a revving engine turned his head.

He caught sight of tail lights swinging in the darkness and frowned. For a moment he stood in quiet confusion until he noticed the prone form of a person lying in the dirt, right on the edge of the pool of light cast by the Hospital. He sobered instantly, the buzz of alcohol replaced by the rush of adrenaline through his veins as he skidded through the dirt to the person's side.

_Moving was impossible. Every twitch of a muscle caused a flare of pain through his abdomen; he lay on his side, sweat pouring from his skin, salty and blinding. Blood stained his hands and clothes; he could taste it in his mouth and smell it with every shaky intake of breath; mixed with the stench of faeces. There was low speaking around him, voices in French, angry and quiet. His muscles tensed, not of his own volition. He felt an agonising wave of spasms ripple through his body, causing him to cry out. Blackness overwhelmed his senses._

_When he awoke he was no longer in the truck, dust burnt the back of his throat, he was lying face down, in a last ditch effort, mustering all his remaining strength he shoved himself onto his back. The stars accented the velvet sky above his head though tears clouded his vision._

"_Sean?" the voice was American, "Oh Jesus. Sean!"_

_Someone knelt at his side; they touched his skin, felt for a pulse, and moved his drenched hair from his forehead. Sean turned to look slowly, his insides were burning, his skin crawled and he retched, tasting bile. It was John Carter, looking down at him. There was shouting again, all he could think about was Audrey, how worried she would be. Her face was the last thing he saw as he closed his eyes again._

"Sean...? Sean!" John took his pulse and found it erratic, his blood pressure was low and the smell of blood and faeces turned his stomach. He was out cold too; John had to get him inside the Hospital.

"Luka!" he yelled, "LUKA!"

Movement to his left, in the darkness made him stop. Two men dressed in black and green army fatigues rushed out of the shadows straight towards him. John had barely a moment to register their movement before one of them had his gun raised at him; the other took his arms fiercely. He could hear Luka running up behind him and the truck returning from the night. It parked up and a third man sprang out of the driver's seat. Light, sounds, dirt and darkness blended together in a daze, they dragged him to his feet and over Sean who remained motionless save for the soft rise and fall of his chest. The barrel of a gun was digging into John's jugular and he was now held by two of the men, stiffly, facing the 'hospital'. Luka stood in wide eyed terror, staring.

No one spoke. What words were needed? The man with the gun at Carter's neck gestured towards the low white building behind Kovac and the other two darted off instantly, going towards the doorway. John swallowed hard, what the hell was going on? How had Sean gotten there in such bad shape? The minutes ticked by. A few shrill cries split the darkness and the two men re-emerged from the building, this time with their arms, and the arms to two nurses, full of medication.

Kovac watched, incredulous, as the nurses were held at gun point and the medicine was loaded in the back of the truck. The men waved the nurses away and they stumbled in behind Kovac who was staring at John. He was sweating copiously, tears shone in his eyes and Kovac knew there wasn't a damned thing he could do. The man holding him smiled sickly and took Carter's hair in his free hand. He manoeuvred him to the truck, the others keeping their guns trained on Kovac and the nurses.

They piled into the truck and gunned the engine, taking off into the darkness. The instant they were out of sight the nurses and Luka descended on Sean. Luka's eyes widened as soon as he realised who it was he was looking down at.

"Sean, can you hear me?" he said, a quiver in his voice.

Sean didn't respond and with the help of the two nurses, they hoisted him up and spread the weight of him between them, they lumbered him into the hospital through the waiting room and into a bed. The smell coming off him was rancid and his clothes were splattered with blood, most likely his own.

"Mettez en marche un IV, start an IV of Saline," he commanded the nurses, "and clean him up..."

That short command was all he had time for. He made his way directly to the office, behind the makeshift reception desk and over to the radio. He had to report this immediately, the embassy had to know, and Alliance de Medecines had to know if they had any chance of getting Carter back. The conversations were short and clipped, Luka was numb, sweating, and he didn't have the capacity to fully digest this yet.

The next call was the hardest to make.

A deep voice answered the radio, "This is Kasim."

"Kasim. It's Dr. Kovac. Where is Audrey?"

There was white noise for a moment.

"I will get her."

Kovac tapped his fingers on the table angrily. His dark hair flopped into his eyes but he ignored it. What was he going to say? How was he going to approach this? Time slowed and what was only a couple of minutes of silence, waiting for Audrey, felt closer to twenty.

"Luka?" her voice was small and quiet. Kovac felt his heart twist.

"Audrey. Sean is here. He's safe."

Silence again.

"Oh God. Oh my God... Luka, thank you." Came Audrey's choked sob, he could hear Kasim cheering in the background.

"Audrey, what happened? He was dumped up here by a group of men. They took... they took Carter."

The tearful elation of hearing that Sean was alive and well faded from her voice with her reply, "John? Oh Jesus... when?"

"Just now, they left Sean and took John instead." When there was no response he forged onwards, "Audrey, Sean's very ill, I think its dysentery, but he's septic and I don't have any medication, the Adem took it all..."

"Wh-what?"

Luka, made a fist against the table, "I don't have the medication I need to help him."

There was static, then the sound of voices in the background, Audrey clearly had the button pressed down, but was talking to Kasim in French, there was desperation in her voice, when she came back to the radio conversation however she sounded calm and determined and spoke the words that Luka had already expected to hear.

"I'm coming with the medication," She deadpanned, "tell him I'm coming, Luka."

**_To Be Continued_**


End file.
